Saturday, February 16, 2013

Is Al-Jazeera going the way of our media?

This is rather bad news. According to Der Spiegel, Al-Jazeera journalists are resigning because they do not think its editorial independence is being honoured any more. Actually, it is an uncharacteristically muddled article but the money quote, if I may put it that way, is:

The network broadcast messages from Osama bin Laden, prompting outraged criticism from the US, where it was referred to as a "terror network." At the same time, it was the only Arab medium that regularly invited Israeli politicians to debates. Its correspondents didn't hesitate to call former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a "dictator" -- and Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak a "wimp." What's more, the network's journalists reported on dissidents, including members of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, who were forced to rot in prison for years under Mubarak's regime. Such courage and informative journalism earned Al-Jazeera a number of awards.

Since the Arab Spring, though, many former dissidents have risen to power across the region -- and these fledgling leaders often show little respect for democratic principles. Al-Jazeera, however, has shamelessly fawned upon the new rulers.

Today, when Egyptians protest against President Mohammad Morsi and the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Jazeera is often critical of them, in the style of the old pro-government TV station. Conversely, according to ex-correspondent Suliman, Al-Jazeera executives have ordered that Morsi's decrees should be portrayed as pearls of wisdom. "Such a dictatorial approach would have been unthinkable before," he says. "In Egypt we have become the palace broadcaster for Morsi."

So the former dissidents, now in power (well some of them) do not have any time for democratic principles. Well, well. Where have we seen that before?

I have always had a great deal of respect for Al-Jazeera. They may have started from a different point but their reports tended to be informative, scrupulous and as fair as any media reporting can be. Considerably more so than our own BBC for instance. I would hate to see Al-Jazeera becoming just like our own media.